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Nicole Mc Farling had this to say regarding this matter:
"Those that work in the field of autism have known this for two years
that this change was coming. Asperger syndrome was added to the DSM-IV
in 1994 officially so you bare off on your dates by a few years. Many
professional in the field are upset over this because it will prevent
many who have a higherfunctioning autism or asperger's will lose
services they need.How many 1000's of individuals dignosed with
Asperger's will now not be and wont meet criterion for autism.
Where
was the AP when the debates were happening last year? When renown
professionals in the field, psychiatrists, MD's, etc pushed to stop it.
It's only going to eliminate the category in order to lower the rate of
diagnosed individuals. Questions were raised on the validity of the
field traials conducted during the last 1.5 years.
Dr. C. Lord chair of the task fo
rce stated (trials showed)10% less would meet criteria, but contradicted herself saying it wouldn't affect anyone.
Dr. Francis, Duke University School of Medicine and chair of the DSM-IV
revisions that included Aspereger's is against these changes and has
stated that it is radical change to the definition of Autism and will
dramatically reduce the number the number of people who will qualify
under the new criteria.
This is a socio-political move and it is
wrong to all the individuals who need assistance due to impact of the
symptomology of aspergers or autism.
1 in 88 (CDC, 2012) is now the
prevalence; change from 1 in 110 in 2009. This is a travesty and is
going to severly impact those individuals who are higher functioning
cognitively. Most will not be able to gain employment and have any
independence in adulthood, without the assistance they need to gain the
skills they need, even though many have an average or above average IQ.
The IQ however isn't the diagnosos, but socialization, communication and
behavaioral challenges is the disability.
This is a travesty for
many families that struggle daily with this with a loved one. It is a
LIFELONG disorder and there is no cure, only interventions to help them
develop in the triad (social, communivation and behavior)areas.
Yet another population of individuas with disabilities that will hugely
discriminated against, because without help, they won't meet society's
idea of someone who is socially competent. Society should be pissed
about this and be up in arms advocating that this not happen. But,
unless you have a kid or adult in your family with an autism spectrum
disorder, most people will ignore this just like evrything else in
society that's ignored because it doessn't directly impact them. "
Nicole McFarling, M.A. Sp.Ed.
ADVOCATE FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS.
